[ EDITORIAL ]

Wrongly Incarcerated: Compensate James Richardson

Published: Friday, November 8, 2013 at 12:01 a.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, November 7, 2013 at 8:25 p.m.

Under our system of justice, a man is innocent until proved guilty. But the system hasn't worked for James Richardson.

Richardson's once-controversial case re-emerged Oct. 27 when he returned to his former hometown of Arcadia to attend a special church service in his honor.

As the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported, Richardson's return raised again the question of whether he deserves some measure of fairness and compensation for the wrongs he suffered at the hands of the state of Florida.

The answer is yes.

In 1968, Richardson was a fruit picker in DeSoto County when he was wrongly convicted of the poisoning deaths of his seven children. He spent 21 years in prison, five of them on death row, before he was freed through a special investigation called by former Gov. Bob Martinez.

The investigation, led by Janet Reno — then the Dade County state attorney and later U.S. attorney general — concluded that "not only couldn't the state prove James Richardson was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, but James Richardson was probably wrongfully accused."

Reno found evidence of perjury and police brutality. Her report sharply criticized the prosecution and the DeSoto sheriff. "A totally inadequate and incomplete investigation was conducted," she wrote.

But that was in 1989 and, by then, important witnesses and potential culprits had died. Evidence (questionable from the beginning) was gone. As a result, the case could not be fairly retried to prove Richardson's innocence, or his guilt.

So Richardson was freed but had lost 21 years of his life, and by many accounts his health, and was left without much means of financial support.

ROADBLOCKS

Efforts by Richardson and his attorneys to obtain compensation from the state have been fruitless. Initially, Florida had no law that provided for compensation of prisoners later found to be wrongly incarcerated. In 2008, the Legislature passed a law that awards $50,000 for each year someone wrongly convicted spent in prison, but the law requires proof of innocence.

Richardson's case did not fit the criteria.

New hope for Richardson has arisen through proposed legislation. State Sen. Geraldine Thompson, D-Orlando, and state Rep. Dave Kerner, D-Palm Beach, are working to amend the wrongful-incarceration law to include Richardson's case.

But the legislation faces difficult obstacles. It would need to provide strict criteria for cases in which a former prisoner could not be exonerated by new evidence or testimony. Not every case in which prosecutors or law enforcement mishandle a conviction could be subject to restitution — there are simply too many such cases.

Yet the current law's standard — requiring that, in all cases, a person wrongly incarcerated must be proved innocent before restitution is made — goes against a fundamental principle of American justice: innocent until proved guilty.

The Legislature should thoroughly consider the new legislation and remain open to righting a 45-year-old miscarriage of justice.

<p>Under our system of justice, a man is innocent until proved guilty. But the system hasn't worked for James Richardson.</p><p>Richardson's once-controversial case re-emerged Oct. 27 when he returned to his former hometown of Arcadia to attend a special church service in his honor.</p><p>As the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported, Richardson's return raised again the question of whether he deserves some measure of fairness and compensation for the wrongs he suffered at the hands of the state of Florida.</p><p>The answer is yes.</p><p>In 1968, Richardson was a fruit picker in DeSoto County when he was wrongly convicted of the poisoning deaths of his seven children. He spent 21 years in prison, five of them on death row, before he was freed through a special investigation called by former Gov. Bob Martinez.</p><p>The investigation, led by Janet Reno — then the Dade County state attorney and later U.S. attorney general — concluded that "not only couldn't the state prove James Richardson was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, but James Richardson was probably wrongfully accused."</p><p>Reno found evidence of perjury and police brutality. Her report sharply criticized the prosecution and the DeSoto sheriff. "A totally inadequate and incomplete investigation was conducted," she wrote.</p><p>But that was in 1989 and, by then, important witnesses and potential culprits had died. Evidence (questionable from the beginning) was gone. As a result, the case could not be fairly retried to prove Richardson's innocence, or his guilt.</p><p>So Richardson was freed but had lost 21 years of his life, and by many accounts his health, and was left without much means of financial support.</p><p>ROADBLOCKS</p><p>Efforts by Richardson and his attorneys to obtain compensation from the state have been fruitless. Initially, Florida had no law that provided for compensation of prisoners later found to be wrongly incarcerated. In 2008, the Legislature passed a law that awards $50,000 for each year someone wrongly convicted spent in prison, but the law requires proof of innocence.</p><p>Richardson's case did not fit the criteria.</p><p>New hope for Richardson has arisen through proposed legislation. State Sen. Geraldine Thompson, D-Orlando, and state Rep. Dave Kerner, D-Palm Beach, are working to amend the wrongful-incarceration law to include Richardson's case.</p><p>But the legislation faces difficult obstacles. It would need to provide strict criteria for cases in which a former prisoner could not be exonerated by new evidence or testimony. Not every case in which prosecutors or law enforcement mishandle a conviction could be subject to restitution — there are simply too many such cases.</p><p>Yet the current law's standard — requiring that, in all cases, a person wrongly incarcerated must be proved innocent before restitution is made — goes against a fundamental principle of American justice: innocent until proved guilty.</p><p>The Legislature should thoroughly consider the new legislation and remain open to righting a 45-year-old miscarriage of justice.</p>